Barbie and the Three Musketeers
| runtime = 81 minutes | country = United States Canada | language = English | budget = | gross = }} Barbie and the Three Musketeers is a 2009 American-Canadian direct-to-DVD computer-animated fantasy film and the 16th entry in the Barbie film series. This is the final entry in the second-generation Barbie films. It was released on September 15, 2009.Amazon.com: Barbie and the Three Musketeers: Barbie: Movies & TV. Retrieved June 28, 2009. The film features the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Corinne d'Artagnan (played by Barbie), and is based on The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. Plot In her new movie set up in France, Barbie stars as Corinne, a seventeen-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a Musketeer like her father. Her kitten Miette dreams of becoming a mus"cat"eer But unfortunately when they make it to Paris, becoming a musketeer is not easy for Corinne. She is made fun of by other people, especially Prince Louis' cousin, Phillippe. His dog, Brutus takes her letter to Monsieur Treville and flees to the castle. Corinne gets the letter back, but Brutus damages it. After having a conservation with Treville, he tells Corinne that she is not ready and she is disappointed that this day is not turning out as she had hoped. But the wicked Brutus chases Miette towards the castle making a worse scenario with three palace maids. Corinne encounters Madame de Bosse, who hires her as a fourth palace maid. After a hard day, one of the maids, Aramina, convinces the other two maids Viveca and Renee to let Corinne and Miette stay. They befriend each other and forgive her for what happened. The next day when they return to work, Corinne meets Prince Louis for the first time. After talking to Phillippe about his hot-air balloon invention, a chandelier drops and almost crushes the prince but he moves just in time and Viveca, Aramina and Renee show off their musketeer skills to defend themselves from the chandelier fragments. Corinne finds a small red gem next to the chandelier rope which appears to have been cut. Corinne tells her friends about her dream to become a musketeer and they are surprised at first but also excited because the three girls also have the same dreams of being musketeers too. An old maid named Helen overhears their conversation and takes them through a secret passageway, where she leads them to the old musketeer's training room and agrees to train the four girls to be true musketeers. Soon the four girls are practicing their skills with Helen's help. One day, while Corinne is cleaning the windows, she spots the prince hanging from his flying hot-air balloon and runs to help him. The prince thanks Corinne and they immediately fall in love. While on the balloon, she finds that the rope attached has been cut, just like the chandelier in the castle. When the prince says girls can't be musketeers, she storms off angrily and tells her friends what happened Helen warns her and the girls to keep eyes and ears open for enemies, otherwise, Prince Louis will be in grave danger. Miette sneaks to the castle, with Corinne's horse, Alexander's, help to join training with Corinne and her friends. Finally, their training with musketeer skills is complete and Helen is very impressed. One night, Corinne, Viveca, Aramina, and Renee decide to celebrate their musketeer skills and take a walk into the dark, quiet streets. They encounter men led by a man named Regent who pulls out a knife and Corrine realizes it matches the gem she found next to the chandelier rope. They discover that the Regent's men were sneaking weapons into the masquerade ball to kill Louis so that his evil cousin Phillippe will be the new king. They try to tell Treville but no one believes them and they are banned from the castle. They wear disguises and sneak into the ball without being caught. The prince chooses to dance with Corinne, though he does not recognize her with her mask on. The evil men capture Treville and the other musketeers, attack the girls and throw Louis into the passageways where Phillippe chases him to the rooftops. In the end, after fighting the men and untying Treville and the musketeers, Corinne saves Louis just in time and they arrest Phillippe, Regent, Brutus, and their men. Corinne, Viveca, Aramina and Renee remove their masks and Corinne and Louis reconcile. Louis names them royal musketeers on the day of his coronation to be king. Helen takes Madame de Bosse's place and Madame de Bosse is made a maid as punishment for being so wicked and bossy. Corinne's mother is very proud that her daughter had finally become a musketeer. Louis offers to take Corinne on another balloon ride, but before she can say yes Treville receives word a plot against the king so Corinne and her three best friends ride off on their horses to save another day. After saying "All for one, and One for all!" and waving goodbye to Louis and the kingdom they ride off happily towards the sunset to their next destination. Allusions to the original story *Paris, which is France's capital city and the center location of the original story, is also the location for the film. *The girls mention a former roommate named Constance. In the novel, Constance Bonacieux is the woman that D'Artagnan falls in love with. *One of the guests at the masquerade ball is introduced as the Countess de Winter, who was one of the antagonists from the original story. *Monsieur Treville, the captain of the Musketeers in the film, is named after the captain in the original story, Monsieur de Treville. *The part when Corinne accidentally falls on each of three girls and makes them angry alludes to the beginning of the novel where D'Artagnan accidentally runs into each of the Musketeers, unintentionally upsetting each man and earning himself a challenge to a duel. *Corinne's home is in Gascony, which is the location of D'Artagnan's family estate in the novel. Corinne also mentioned to Treville her father, D'Artagnan, who had also been a musketeer. *Tim Curry, who voices Philippe in the film, also played the villainous Cardinal Richelieu in the 1993 live-action version of The Three Musketeers. The film also stars Charlie Sheen as Aramis, Kiefer Sutherland as Athos, Oliver Platt as Porthos and Chris O'Donnell as D'Artagnan. *Aramina appears to be named after Aramis, another protagonist from the novel. Aramis' first name was Rene, so Renee appears to have been named after him, too. Cast and characters *Kelly Sheridan as Corinne (played by Barbie) – a country girl from Gascony. Hot-headed, confident, and determined, she aspires to become a musketeer, like her father, d'Artagnan. Her signature color is pink, and her chief weapon is a sword. She is Caucasian with fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. *Dorla Bell as Renée (played by Nikki) – a practical, well-headed and skilled fighter and slightly unfriendly violinist. Her signature color is blue, and her weapon is a sling. She is African American with dark skin, dark brown/black hair with blue streaks and brown eyes. *Kira Tozer as Viveca (played by Teresa) – a stylish and witty fashionista. She tends to use French in her speech. Her signature color is purple, and her weapon is a pair of ribbons, which can also be used as whips. She is brunette with tan skin and green eyes. *Willow Johnson as Aramina (played by Midge) – an idealistic dancer. She nurses a crush on Prince Louis, but is delighted when he and Corinne fall in love. Her signature color is teal, and her weapon is a pair of fans. She is Caucasian with light skin, strawberry red hair and hazel eyes. *Tim Curry as Philippe – the main antagonist. He plots the kill his own cousin, the Prince, and to make himself king. *Mark Hildreth as Prince Louis – a prince who will become the future king. He loves the thought of flying and inventions, and later he falls in love with Corinne. *Bernard Cuffling as Monsieur Treville – a good friend of Corinne's father. He is a brave and strong musketeer. *Merrilyn Gann as Madame de Bossé– the bossy cruel boss of Helen, Corinne, Viveca, Aramina and Renee when they are maids. *Kathleen Barr as Hélène – an elderly maid who trains Corinne, Viveca, Aramina and Renee to become musketeers. She later becomes the boss of Madame de Bossé. **Barr also voices Fancy dress girl # 2 *Nicole Oliver as Corrine's mother **Oliver also voices Fancy dress girl #1 *Saffron Henderson as Miette – Corinne's kitten who dreams of becoming a mus"cat"teer. *David Kaye as Alexander – Corinne's horse (previously her father's horse) *Brian Dobson as Brutus – Philippe's wicked dog Reviews CommonSenseMedia's review gave the movie three stars out of five and concluded: "A pretty good try, but this Musketeer misses the mark...Barbie does all kinds of acrobatic moves, which flaunt her girlishness, but putting a sword in her dainty little hands seems to be a stretch."Barbie and the Three Musketeers By Joly Herman DVDverdict's review said the CGI was not spectacular and adults would not find much to cheer about. However, children would find it "fine and dandy. It has no offensive material, and promotes the idea girls can be anything they want if given a chance and the right accessories."Reviewed by Judge Brett Cullum DVD Talk's review rated the content worth two stars out of five (but three for video and audio) but advised "Rent it" due in part to the songs. "Unfortunately, some distasteful songs run throughout this speedy retelling of the Dumas classic, so be forewarned...Not only are the lyrics ugly, they're senseless."Review by Paul Mavis Reception The movie was released on DVD on September 15, 2009 and opened at #2, selling 399,000 units which translated to $5.6 million in sales. By early October, it had dropped to #24 in rank. A total of 629,178 DVD units had been sold, representing total sales of $9.9 million.Barbie and the Three Musketeers - DVD Sales The Numbers - Nash Information Services Video Game A video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS by developer WayForward Technologies. Game Director, Adam Tierney, wanted to make sure that the game's combat incorporated the dancer-like quality to the movement as seen in the animation. Mixing dancing and fencing with a Shaolin sword-fighting flair, they were able to achieve this, and the characters weren't just re-enacting canned slashes over and over. In addition, each of the 4 playable characters were given abilities as an homage to NES-era games. Barbie could hang from ceilings like Grant Danasty in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Another girl used long ribbons like Nathan 'Rad' Spencer in Bionic Commando. None of these ideas came from the film, but the freedom provided by the producers at Mattel and Activision, made for a much more fun and interesting game. References External links * barbie.com * * * * Category:2009 direct-to-video films Category:American children's animated adventure films Category:American films Category:Canadian animated films Category:Canadian films Category:Films set in the 2010s Category:Films set in 2010 Category:Films set in the 21st century Category:Films based on The Three Musketeers Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Three Musketeers Category:Universal Pictures direct-to-video animated films Category:Universal Pictures direct-to-video films Category:2000s American animated films Category:2009 computer-animated films Category:Animated films based on novels Category:2000s children's animated films Category:2000s children's fantasy films